Crystal trotters were developed on the basis of the ancient dish "boiled pig" and crystal cold pottery. The two are in the same vein, and the materials are basically the same, both of which are made of hooves and pepper salt, and are frozen with braised soup. The difference is that "cooking pigs" does not use nitrate, while crystal dishes use nitrate, so the latter is also called "nitrate meat" and "frozen hooves". I have done traditional Chinese medicine, of course, I know that "nitrate" is miscanthus salt, bitter, cold and salty, as long as the dosage is strictly controlled, there will be no risk of cancer.

Like many places in the south of the Yangtze River, in the past, Zhenjiang people used to enter the teahouse early in the morning, make a pot of fragrant tea, and eat the meat dipped in balsamic vinegar and ginger shreds as a snack, so there is a saying that "it is not a dish". Zhenjiang "three monsters", for "the meat is not the right dish, the balsamic vinegar is not bad, and the pot lid is boiled below", Zhenjiang's "pot cover" noodles are a kind of special knife noodles, tough, refreshing, quite popular in summer, can be eaten alone, can also be eaten with porridge, and also made as a side dish.

"Wash your hands to make soup", a kind of big meatball cooked by her sister is also very Huaiyang flavor. The meatballs are bigger than the glutinous rice balls, chop them into minced meat in the ratio of five points of essence and one point of fat, add salt, sugar, chicken essence and other ingredients and stir vigorously, boil the water in the pot, and scrape it off with a spoon. Add the ginger and shallots, change to low heat and cook for half an hour. Until the oil juice in the meatballs is forced out, the soup is thick, and the meatballs are tender and tough, fragrant and smooth. If it is accompanied by shiitake mushrooms, golden needle vegetables or winter bamboo shoots, there will be a bit of lupine scarf and the mystery of talented and beautiful women.

Xiaolong soup dumplings are a local snack and a part of the lives of many citizens. In the morning, in addition to those time-honored restaurants full of dine-in customers, the Xiaolong soup dumpling noodle shop hidden in the alleys, as well as the mom-and-pop snack bar, are always lively, and the stove at the door is stacked with high steamers, steaming. The people in the shop were busy taking care of the customers in an orderly manner, and they went over to make soup dumplings when they had a little time. It's fun to watch them at work: put a piece of skin in the palm of your hand, fill it with the filling, hold the edge of the skin between your fingers, and rotate it clockwise while the other hand pulls and folds the skin in a water-patterned shape. The process of wrapping is a bit like screwing. The wrapped xiaolongtang dumplings are slightly larger than a ping-pong ball, and the folds at the top look like a navel eye.

Wanjiang people do not call it "Xiaolong soup dumplings", but call it "Xiaolong dumplings". "Hey, boss, two drawers of xiaolongbao!" "Hey, waiter...... Another basket of crab roe steamed buns!" The steaming drawer, which is slightly larger than a vegetable plate and has become black after hundreds of thousands of fumigations, is served, and more than a dozen exquisite white xiaolong soup dumplings lie in the middle, each with a very thin skin, slightly oily, and the filling inside is also added with minced green onions, faintly revealing a hint of green, which makes people move their index fingers when they see it. Xiaolong soup dumplings are inexpensive and have a unique flavor, which can be used as a quick morning snack to fill your stomach quickly, or as a dim sum in the middle of a grand meal in a restaurant. When Wuhu people talk about xiaolong soup dumplings, their pride is overflowing.

Xiaolong soup dumplings, as the name suggests, are small steamed dumplings with soup steamed in a small steamer, and their thin skin is not only wrapped in fresh filling, but also a full mouthful of fresh soup. When eating xiaolong soup dumplings, it should be served hot, and if it is slightly cool, the taste will be reduced. Many cities along the Yangtze River Delta claim to be the birthplace of xiaolong soup dumplings, such as Nanjing, Yangzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou. In the taste I have eaten, Nanjing and Hangzhou are salty and fragrant, Shanghai and Wuxi are sweet and fresh, Zhenjiang soup dumplings are a little less, and the soup dumplings of Fuchun Tea House in Yangzhou are soft and delicious, but the volume is slightly larger and not delicate enough...... Here I would like to make a special mention of the soup dumplings in Wuhan, because there is a lot of jelly in the filling, I feel that the soup is very rich, and the mouth of the soup dumplings resembles a crucian carp mouth, and the meat filling is slightly exposed, but it is inevitable that the oil taste is heavy. As for the name, it is generally named according to the selected excipients. Such as "crab roe soup dumplings" or "shrimp soup dumplings", "three major mushroom soup dumplings", and so on. There are also "Wenlou soup dumplings" in Huaiyang and "longan buns" in Chengdu are also high-quality products.

The authentic xiaolongbao originated more than 100 years ago in Guyi Garden, Nanxiang Town, where they were. Back then, Huang Mingxian, the owner of a pastry shop in Nanxiang Town, often carried his burden to Guyi Garden to sell big meat steamed buns. Later, when there were more competitors, the shrewd Boss Huang found another way, changed to a thin-skinned large meat steamed bun, and thought of adding soup to the meat filling, thus making Xiaolong soup dumplings. He also stipulated that a pound of wet powder should be no more and no less than 100 bun skins, and 14 folds should be pinched out of the skin of each soup dumpling.

There is a history that the earliest xiaolong soup dumplings in Wuhu were founded in 1952. At that time, the crab roe soup dumplings in Tongqing Building were very famous, and they were a must-have spot for large merchants to negotiate business and entertain relatives and friends. The soup dumplings in Tongqinglou are thin and tendony, translucent, clip one, you can see the soup in the bag flowing, shake it gently, you can see the skin swaying gently with the soup inside.

It is said that the soup is made by boiling pork skin for at least four hours, from the purchase of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product. A good soup dumpling, in addition to the fresh soup, the filling is more particular, the meat must be tight and delicate, the taste must be smooth in the mouth, elastic teeth, is a tough ball, not a pile of loose meat residue. Especially the crab roe soup dumplings, the crab meat tastes mellow, and it is really wonderful with balsamic vinegar and shredded ginger!

To make skin jelly, you must use the skin of the pig's back to boil, the skin on the pig's belly is much worse, generally each pound of meat filling should be mixed with skin jelly about six taels. In order to make the thin dough wrap so much soup without wearing the bottom, the process is very exquisite, and it is necessary to use a certain amount of sub-noodles and leavened noodles to do, so that the skin can absorb less water to avoid wearing the bottom, and it is soft and delicious to eat.

The steamed soup dumplings cannot collapse, like lanterns, filled into balls, floating in the soup. Like cherishing his own poems, he admires his own talents, and he says that when he travels all over the cities south of the Yangtze River, Wuhu's xiaolongbao tastes the purest!

Xiaolong soup dumplings are delicious, and you have to be able to eat them. If you try it for the first time and bite into it in a hurry, you may be so hot that you can't help but spit it out, making the soup dripping, losing a mouthful of good soup, and staining your clothes. The best way to eat xiaolong soup dumplings, simply put, is "one mention", "one move", "one bite", "one dip", and there is also a saying, called "gently lift, move slowly, open a small window, and then drink soup"

After the bun is served, use chopsticks to grip the top of the bun, shake it gently, let the bun and the bottom of the cage separate, and then clamp it horizontally and put it into the spoon; you can also hold the soup bun in one hand, hold the spoon in the other hand, and then gently bite open a small opening, blow the heat inside, when the soup filling is not too hot, suck the soup, and then dip the bun into the dish and dip it in vinegar to wrap it down. When sucking the soup, it is the most delicious, the mellow aroma of the gravy and the vinegar aroma are kneaded together, penetrating the entire mouth, moisturizing all the taste buds, especially after eating.

The full name of the potsticker is potsticker dumplings, although some places simply call it fried dumplings, but the potstickers are by no means fried dumplings. Fried dumplings are steamed first, then fried until golden brown, and then put into the plate with the bottom up - the reason why the bottom is up is so as not to make people think that you are making steamed dumplings. But unfortunately, whether it is fried dumplings or steamed dumplings, they are all fat, the body is too full, and the taste is a little worse. There is also a big difference in raw frying, Shanghai people are shrewd and confused for a while, and the steamed buns are not distinguished, the so-called "fried steamed buns" is actually the raw steamed buns are fried and fragrant. The steamed bun is not familiar with the world, but the "fried steamed bun" in the mouth of the Allah people is clearly filled and tender, with more marinade, the upper part has yellow sesame seeds and green onions, which are soft and palatable, and the lower part is browned and crispy...... It can also be regarded as a famous snack in Shanghai.